Talons of Power (Book)
'Talons of Power' is the ninth book in the New York Times bestselling, ''Wings of Fire series, and the fourth book in the second arc. The main protagonist is Prince Turtle. It was released on December 27th, 2016. Talons of Power follows Escaping Peril and precedes ''Darkness of Dragons''. Tui T. Sutherland said on her blog that the ninth book will be the one to "rip out your heart and stomp on it." It picks up right after the eighth book in the Wings of Fire series, Escaping Peril's, ''ending. Read the excerpt here! Summary ''FOR EVERY VILLAIN, THERE IS A HERO… Turtle isn’t one of the heroes he reads about in stories. If he were, he’d use his animus powers to help Pyrrhia—instead of keeping his abilities a secret, even from his own sister. Now that Darkstalker, the sinister and impossibly old dragon from Pyrrhia’s most notorious legends, has returned, Turtle knows his own role is simple: hide. And stay hidden. The other dragons at Jade Mountain Academy, on the other hand, think Darkstalker is fascinating. He charms everyone he meets, including Turtle’s most skeptical friends. They all seem convinced that the ancient dragon has changed. Turtle isn’t so sure. The more he watches Darkstalker from the shadows, the more Turtle knows that someone needs to stop the powerful dragon. A real hero. But Turtle is running out of time to find one, which means…he might have to try to save the day himself. Prologue King Gill is swimming to the The SeaWing Royal Hatchery and when he gets there, one of the guards, Abalone, is extremely sick with a strange growth on his neck that was hot and grew larger rapidly. Gill wants to take him to the healers, but he couldn't leave the eggs unguarded. So, he finds a group of princes and asks in aquatic who could find Snapper and send Snapper to go to the Royal Hatchery and guard the eggs quickly. Prince Turtle volunteers and Gill tells him to go as fast as he can. Gill returns to Abalone and waits for Snapper to come. But time goes by and Snapper isn't there yet so Gill swims to the healers and brings them to Abalone, but by the time he and the healers gets back, Abalone is dead because the growth on his neck burst and the female eggs were destroyed. Gill looks for Turtle and sees him with his brothers; so he attacks his son, grabbing him by his wing. He roars, asking where he has been. Turtle, terrified, says he was searching for Snapper but didn't know where to look or what she looked like. Gill tells him that he shouldn't volunteer for jobs he couldn't do. He continues, saying it was all Turtle's fault and his sisters are dead because of him. Turtle is shocked and upset and Gill tells him he's disappointed in his son. Then the SeaWing King flies over to where Queen Coral stands and he tells her that it wasn't Abalone and Snapper's fault. Coral says she sent them to be executed anyways. Coral says the next daughter will live, but Gill doesn't seem so sure. Coral promises she will stay by her side all year, and that they would name her Anemone. Part One: A Dragon Awakes Book Nine begins with Darkstalker escaping from the mountain. Turtle is immediately frightened so he enchants a stick to make Darkstalker forget that Turtle exists, and to make him unable to read his mind and mentions of him in other dragons' minds. Turtle then has a flashback of when he wrote stories in which he was the hero who saved his family and the tribe. It is implied that he did this because he wanted his mother, Queen Coral, to notice him. However, when he had the chance to save his family for real he blew it. After that Turtle swore never to write again. In the present, Darkstalker claims he is not evil but hungry, and Perilhttp://wingsoffire.wikia.com/wiki/Peril tries to scorch him, but he is undamaged and pushes her aside. Darkstalker says that when Peril burned the scroll, his animus magic returned to him and he was free. He also takes note that he grew regularly while sleeping for 2000 years which is why he is huge. After Winter challenges Darkstalker, Turtle notices "something strange in Winter's blue eyes" and suddenly he starts agreeing with everything Darkstalker says. Moon accuses Darkstalker of using his powers to hush up the IceWing, but Darkstalker denies it. Throughout the whole chapter Darkstalker says that he is very hungry and asks if Moon and her friends want to go hunting with him. The chapter ends when the others tell Turtle to go to Jade Mountain to get help. Turtle goes claiming that he is not a hero, but he can find heroes at Jade Mountain, while the other dragonets go with Darkstalker to go hunting. Turtle goes off to warn Anemone about Darkstalker. But Anemone is eager to meet the other animus, not seeing why she should be afraid, and goes to find him with Pike. Turtle stays with Tamarin. After a while Tamarin convinces Turtle to let her take care of herself and that he should go warn the school. He finds Sunny and Tsunami arguing about the cactus bombs, and how Fierceteeth and Strongwings escape, and how Queen Glory is in danger. He tells them about Darkstalker and Moon's powers. They stop by the library so Starflight can tell them about it and Darkstalker appears asking for scrolls about Fathom and Clearsight, when Mightyclaws, Mindreader, and Fearless attack Darkstalker, but they don't succeed in hurting him. Clay and Sunny arrive, and Darkstalker tells Sunny that he is her ancestor, as she was descended from Whiteout. Then Anemone arrives, revealing two copper armbands she enchanted to control the weather. Darkstalker tells her that he has been wanting to meet her, and they go and talk. Turtle then finds his winglet, who are charmed by Darkstalker. As Peril goes to find Clay, Qibli suggests that Turtle should continue to hide and spy. He finds Darkstalker and Anemone talking in the main entrance cave about enchanting something to protect their souls. Darkstalker enchants a breastplate used as a bracelet for himself and a silver necklace for Anemone. For the rest of the day, Darkstalker talks to students and Anemone sits with him. Flame approaches and Darkstalker heals his scarred face for him, and then Flame leaves. Then Moon comes, leading the other three NightWing students and introducing them to Darkstalker. He tells the NightWings what it was like in his time. Then he enchants Mindreader's bracelet so she can read minds, Mightyclaws' earring so whatever he draws will come to life, and Fearless' bracelet so she can have superstrength. Darkstalker tells everyone that Moon can read minds as well. Then Moon and Darkstalker have a vision about someone trying to kill Stonemover, and they hurry to his cave with Turtle following. They find Stonemover bleeding in his cave, barely alive. Anemone enchants a bone to lead her to his attacker, and Darkstalker enchants a stalactite to heal Stonemover's wounds. Stonemover comes back to life, but finds that his scales turn back to normal, and he becomes scared, repeatedly saying "these aren't my claws". Darkstalker turns him back to normal to make Stonemover stop worrying so much. Later Anemone arrives with the killer, who is Flame. Flame says that he tried to murder Stonemover for refusing to heal his scar. Darkstalker takes Flame's pouch and empties it, revealing his library card and the third dreamvisitor. Darkstalker says that Flame is the darkness of dragons and the stalker of dreams. Afterwards, Darkstalker enchants Flame's library card to trap Flame. Darkstalker then asks Moon if she wants to fly with him, and Moon declines. Anemone says that she'll fly with Darkstalker and that she's much more interesting than Moon. Darkstalker finally decides to fly alone. Turtle goes to Qibli and Winter's cave and asks to sleep there. Qibli immediately accepts, and they start talking about Darkstalker. Turtle tells them everything he saw that day, and Winter is still very supportive of Darkstalker, and leaves offended by Qibli and Turtle's mistrust of Winter's instincts. Qibli and Turtle start talking about what to do, and Qibli finally asks for Turtle to enchant his ear ring to make the wearer immune to any spell Darkstalker has cast or will cast, whether past, present, or future. Soon after, Darkstalker comes in and asks if they've seen Anemone anywhere nearby. Turtle and Qibli soon realize that Darkstalker has made himself able to sense animus spells. After Darkstalker leaves, they decide to have Turtle follow Darkstalker to the rainforest while they use a pair of slates, enchanted by Turtle, to communicate with each other. When he exits the cave, he sees Peril accidentally put some scrolls on fire. She apologizes and Turtle asks her how her talk with Clay went. She says OK then says there was hugging. Turtle leaves and prepares to follow the NightWings to the rainforest. Part Two: Rise To Power Turtle follows Darkstalker,Anemone, Mightyclaws, Fearless, and Mindreader to the rainforest. While on their way there, Anemone questions Turtle on why he came, and Turtle asks her the same thing back. Darkstalker and the others swoop down into the rainforest, and land on a stage set up in the NightWing village, where Queen Glory and the entire NightWing tribe are waiting for him. Darkstalker delivers a speech in which he tells the NightWings about the Night Kingdom and how they are superior to all tribes, he tells Queen Glory that they should have a vote, but Glory refuses, saying how she wouldn't force any of her NightWings to go with Darkstalker. After their conversaion, Darkstalker grants the NightWings all gifts, such as fighting skills and the ablility to catch any prey. More Soaring In Soon! Trivia * The only other book with an animus's perspective is the Darkstalker (Legends), with Darkstalker and Prince Fathom. This is the first and so far only main series book that has the POV of an animus. * On the cover, Turtle's phosphoric lights are blue, but in the book, they are described to give off a greenish light. *''Talons of Power'' was said to be the longest book, but it came out with only 290 pages minus the excerpt from Darkstalker Legends. *On the pre-final cover, Turtle didn't have his armband, but on the final cover it is seen on right upper arm. *If you look carefully, the whites in his eyes aren't visible in the final cover. *This is the only book cover with a SeaWing that has its phosphoric wing patterns, because on The Lost Heir's cover, Tsunami is missing hers. *Talons of Power is the second book with a SeaWing POV (the first being The Lost Heir), not counting Fathom's POV in Darkstalker (Legends). *Check it out! https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/talons-of-power-wings-of-fire-book-9 *Fan theories suggest that Turtle is the "talons of power" from the Jade Mountain Prophecy *Anemone is shown on the back cover, but her wing patterns are not shown. This may be because they are not spread against the sunlight, unlike Turtle's. *It's confirmed in Talons of Power that Sunny is related to Darkstalker through Whiteout and Thoughtful. *It also revealed Fearless is female. *It is revealed in the book that using too much animus power would make you stop worrying about overusing the power. *Talons of Power seemed to reference a variety of things such as when Anemone told Turtle, "Let's go wake your sleeping beauty." *The full cover shows Turtle finding Anemone before their fight Moon had a vision of started. They are at the ruins of the Island Palace and Anemone is digging for a dagger Whirlpool had left her so she could challenge Queen Coral if she wanted *There was a scene in the book when Darkstalker called all the animus dragons in Pyrrhia to this room. Turtle saw an unknown female SandWing for a split second. This could mean that a SandWing animus exists in Pyrrhia in present day. But it might be an illusion like Turtle once thought. *It is revealed in Talons of Power that there is a ceremony-type thing that the SeaWings do that is called the Talons of Power Ceremony that tests dragonets to see if they have animus abilities. *Clearsight's vision of Darkstalker wearing a crown of twisted metal points from [http://wingsoffire.wikia.com/wiki/Darkstalker_(Legends) Darkstalker (Legends)]'' is proven to come true at the end of the book. Gallery IMG 0850.jpg|Final ToP cover as first seen in ''Runaway Talons of Power.jpg|pre-final cover by Joy Ang IMG_0931.JPG|Physical Cover IMG_0343.JPG|Back cover IMG_0344.JPG|Full cover TalonsofPowerPlaceholderCover.jpeg|Scholastic's placeholder for the book Book9cover.jpg|by Angelturtle Tutle Talons of power.png|by Searing of the SandWings. Prediction for cover. talons_of_power_by_dragon_nest_.jpg|Talons of power cover fan art prediction Preciousseawingsonturtle.png prince_turtle_by_shadowfinder101-d9qxbj8.png|Prince Turtle By Shadowfinder101 on Deviantart Turtle Recognition Day Banner.PNG|Banner for Turtle Recognition Day by RiftSeaWing TurtleSkyWingCookies.jpg|Prince Turtle by SkywingCookies|link=http://wingsoffire.wikia.com/wiki/User:SkywingCookies TURTLEEEEE.jpg|Turtle by Rhyno Bullraq Its_Over.jpg|The epilogue scene, drawn by Spotsthekitty Category:Books Category:Second Arc Category:Mainstream Series